Border dwellers ask govt 'once and for all' conflict resolution

Uprooted from their homes that have faced continuous mortar shelling and rattle of machine guns several times since Independence, dwellers living along the International Border want the government to resolve and end the conflict "once and for all", to ensure permanent and everlasting peace.

Deoli: Uprooted from their homes that have faced continuous mortar shelling and rattle of machine guns several times since Independence, dwellers living along the International Border want the government to resolve and end the conflict "once and for all", to ensure permanent and everlasting peace.

Residents of the frontier belt of Arnia situated five km from the International Border (IB), which bore the maximum brunt of the ongoing cross border shelling say, "it is better if India decides to finally end the conflict once and for all."

They said that earlier the shelling used to take place during night, but now Pakistani side resort to firing in the daytime as well.

"We want this conflict to end once and for all. We are fed up with the everyday migration. The residents of this frontier belt have to bear the maximum brunt every now and then," said Gopal Das, a resident of Arnia belt.

Hundreds of resident of the Arnia frontier belt have taken shelter at the Government High School in Deoli, where the administration along with the Army has set up a relief camp for the victims of the cross border shelling.

The villagers are in distress as they are bound to live in camps in their own village due to shelling that continued for the fourth consecutive day today.

The residents here say that they left their houses in hurry and everything was left behind.

"We had to leave our houses in the dead of the night as we had to save our lives and had no time to save anything else," said Kuldeep Kumar a resident of Arnia.

"How would someone feel when he has to live like a refugee in his own land, in his own village? We are now fed up with all this, we request our Indian government to settle this conflict once and for all," said Girdhari Lal who has taken shelter at the relief camp.

"I decided to go to my house in Arnia with my 10-year-old son at 8:47 am today to get some household items. There was a deafening sound as a shell had hit the front yard of our house," Lal said.

He says that even though nobody was hurt but his son fainted after hearing the thud. "We somehow managed to flee the area, saving our lives" he said.

The residents also shared the problems they are facing in their camps where they are staying following displacement due to attacks.

"Last night the heavy winds blew away the tent we were putting in. We had to spend the night under the open sky and it was raining. The school building was already jam-packed," Kuldeep added.

A senior Army officer said, "We have set up this relief camp with the help of civil administration, wherein we are providing free food, medicines and shelter to the villagers affected by the cross border shelling."

He said that the relief camp would continue till normalcy was restored on the international border and the villagers return to their houses.